General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America

Interim bodies, meeting in between sessions of General Convention, include the Executive Council, various standing commissions, and task forces constituted by the Convention which study and draft policy proposals for consideration and report back to General Convention. Task forces may vary in their size, membership, and duration depending on the General Convention resolution that orders their formation.[12] The Executive Council, composed of the officers of General Convention and members elected by the General Convention and provinces of the Church, oversees the execution of the programs and policies adopted by General Convention.[13] Each standing commission consists of five bishops, five priests or deacons, and ten laypersons. Priests, deacons, and lay persons are not required to be deputies. Bishops are appointed by the Presiding Bishop while the other clergy and laypersons are appointed by the president of the House of Deputies. Members are appointed to rotating terms so that the term for half of the members expires at the conclusion of each regular meeting of the General Convention.[14] The standing commissions are:[15]

• Liturgy and Music
• Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons
• World Mission

The Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies are ex officio members of all commissions and can appoint personal representatives to attend commission meetings without the right to vote. They jointly appoint Executive Council members as liaison persons to provide communication between the council and each commission. These liaison persons are not commission members and cannot vote; though, they do have voice. The Presiding Bishop also appoints a staff member to assist each commission in its work.[16]

Either house may refer matters to a commission, but one house cannot instruct a commission to take any action without the consent of the other house.[17]

The American Revolution was very disruptive to the Episcopal churches in the United States. There had been no Anglican dioceses or bishops in the Thirteen Colonies before the Revolution, thus when the American congregations were separated from the Church of England, "the chain which held them together [was] broken". In 1782, William White, the father of the Episcopal Church, wrote in his pamphlet The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered, "it would seem, that their future continuance can be provided for only by voluntary associations for union and good government".[18] In America, the central unit of the church would be the congregation, rather than the diocese.[19] White, a disciple of John Locke, believed that the church, like the state, should be a democracy. He proposed that congregations in each state should unite to form an annual convention (as opposed to a "convocation" or "synod", terms which denote a body called together by a bishop) of clergy and lay representatives of the congregations. In White's plan, the state conventions would send representatives to three provincial conventions which would elect representatives to the General Convention every three years.[20]

The constitution written in 1789 was very similar to White's plan, except that state conventions would elect representatives directly to the General Convention. Bishops would be democratically elected and responsible to the General Convention and their respective state (later diocesan) conventions. Bishops would be "servants of the Church and not its lords".[21] It is often said that the Constitutions of the United States and the Episcopal Church were written by the same people. While this is not true, both were written around the same time in Philadelphia by people who knew each other and who sought to "replace hierarchical rule with egalitarian, democratic government".[22]

The House of Deputies is the older of the two houses having been formed in 1785. William White was the first President of the House of Deputies. The House of Bishops was formed in 1789 to win the support of those who wanted a greater role for bishops. The House of Deputies had the advantage because with an 80 percent majority it could override a veto of the House of Bishops until 1808 when both houses were given absolute vetoes.[23] White became the first Bishop of Pennsylvania and the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

• 1785 Philadelphia—Initial General Convention of the Episcopal Church
• 1817 New York City—Passed legislation founding General Theological Seminary
• 1865 Philadelphia—After the close of the Civil War, bishops from two Confederate dioceses are warmly welcomed to General Convention, paving the way for the remaining Southern dioceses to rejoin the church soon afterward.
• 1976 Minneapolis, Minnesota—Approval of women for Ordination
• 2003 Minneapolis—The Reverend Gene Robinson was confirmed to be the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
• 2006 Columbus, Ohio—Election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as 26th Presiding Bishop, the first woman in the office. Response to Windsor Report: Dioceses are asked to exercise restraint in ordaining bishops who may cause further strain to the Anglican Communion
• 2015 Salt Lake City—Election of Michael Bruce Curry as 27th Presiding Bishop, the first African-American in the office. Canonical and liturgical changes removing "language defining marriage as between a man and a woman", thus allowing same-sex marriage for all Episcopalians.[24]
• 2018 Austin, Texas—After the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, a plan to invest in firearms manufacturers and retailers as a form of shareholder advocacy was approved.[25]

• List of General Conventions

• Office of the General Convention
• Official website of the Episcopal Church
• Archives of the Episcopal Church